Manhattan is the center of New York City. It has a grid patten of streets and avenues. The streets run from west to east and the avenues run from north to south. Only at the extreme southern end of Manhattan do the streets not follow this pattern. Broadway cuts diagonally across the streets and avenues from northwest to southeast and creates triangularly shaped squares. On the southern tip of Manhattan is Battery Park. The Battery was built to protect New York during the War of 1812, but was never used. From Battery Park Broadway runs north. In the area above Battery Park is Wall Street, the financial center of the United States, and Ground Zero, the former site of the World Trade Center. Just north are Chinatown (the largest Chinese population living outside of Asia) and Little Italy. The area from 34th Street to 59th Street contains many well known sites. On 34th and 5th Avenue is the Empire State Building, now the tallest building in the city. At 34th and 8th Avenue is one of New Youk two railroad stations: Pennsylvania Station. The station is below grould level and above it is the circular sports arena Madison Square Garden. At 42nd and 8th Avenue is the Port Authority Bus Station while at Park Avenure is the Grand Central Railroad Station. At the east end of 42nd Street and the East River is the United Nationas Complex. Just to the north of 42rd at the junction of Broadway and 7th Avenue is Times Square, considered to be the center of Manhattan. Broadway north of Times Square is the Theater District. Along 5th Avenue from 34th to 59th Street are many fine shops. Rockefeller Center at 50th and 5th Avenue is the radio and tele-communications center of the United States. Across 5th Avenue from Rockefeller Center is St. Patrick´s Cathedral, the largest Catholic Cathedral in the United States. Madison Avenue north of 42nd Street is the advertising center of the United States. From 59th to 110th Street is Central Park, a completely artificial man-made park, containing lakes, streams, and a zoo. To the east of the park are the Metropolitan and Guggenheim Museums (art museums) and to the west of the park is the American Museum of Natural History and Planetarium. North of Central Park is the area of Harlem.
New York City is served by 3 airports, John F. Kennedy and La Guardia, both in Queens, and Newark Airport, in New Jersey.
WASHINGTON, D.C:
Washington is in the District of Columbia, an area created from parts of Maryland and Virginia. The Capital of the United States has a population of under 1 million and was the first city in the world to be planned and built as a national captial. It was proposed to be the site of the capital in 1790 and was designed by the French architect Pierre L´Enfant. Its street pattern is very different from New York City and resembles that of Paris. It became the Capital in 1800.
The center of the city surrounds the Mall, a wide open area that runs from east to west. At the east end of the Mall is the Capital Building, and to the east of it is the Supreme Court Building and the Library of Congress. Stretching west of the Capital is the grass covered Mall and at its center is the Washington Monument. West of the monument the Mall becomes the Reflecting Pool, and at the western end of the Mall is the Lincoln Memorial. Directly north of the Washington Monument is the White House which is flanked by the Executice Office Building and the Treasury. Near the Treasury Builing is the Washington Aquarium.
Along the north side of the Mall are The National Gallery of Art, The Natural History Museum, The Museum of American History (all parts of the Smithsonian Museum), and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Futher to the north are the FBI Building and Ford´s Theater, where Lincoln was assassinated.
Along the south side of the Mall are the the Botanic Gardens, the Air and Space Museum (part of the Smithsonian Museum) the Smithsonian Castle, the Holocaust Museum, and the Korean Veterans Memorial.
West of the Lincoln Memorial is the Potomac River, along which to the north is the Kennedy Center for the Preforming Arts and to the south the Jefferson Memorial.
On the west side of the Potomac is Arlington Cemetary, which contains the Tombs of The Unknown Soldiers and the graves of John F. and Robert F. Kennedy. To the south of Arlington Cemetary are the Pentagon and Ronald Reagan National Airport.
